:00:34. > :00:37.Morning, folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics, where we're talking
:00:38. > :00:46.about the Europe-wide contest that really matters. No, not Eurovision.
:00:47. > :00:49.The European elections. There are local elections across England too
:00:50. > :00:53.on May 22nd. The party leaders are campaigning ahead of polling day.
:00:54. > :01:00.The results could be a pointer to the Big One, May 2015. We'll be
:01:01. > :01:03.speaking to the man in charge of Labour's election battle plan. Has
:01:04. > :01:06.the opposition really got its sights set on all-out victory in 2015? Or
:01:07. > :01:13.will it just be content with squeaking home? And you can't
:01:14. > :01:17.mention elections these days without talking about the impact of this
:01:18. > :01:27.Coming up in the West: We will have him if UKIP really is fit for
:01:28. > :01:30.Coming up in the West: We will have all the local
:01:31. > :01:42.And I'm joined by three journalists guaranteed to bring a touch of
:01:43. > :01:45.Eurovision glamour to your Sunday morning. With views more
:01:46. > :01:48.controversial than a bearded Austrian drag act and twice the
:01:49. > :01:58.dress sense, it's Nick Watt, Helen Lewis and Janan Ganesh. So you might
:01:59. > :02:01.have thought you've already heard David Cameron promise an in-out
:02:02. > :02:07.referendum on EU membership in 2017 if he's still Prime Minister. Many
:02:08. > :02:09.times. Many, many times. Well he obviously doesn't think you've been
:02:10. > :02:14.listening, because he's been saying it again today. Here he is speaking
:02:15. > :02:18.to the BBC earlier. We will hold a referendum by the end of 2017. It
:02:19. > :02:22.will be a referendum on an in-out basis. Do we stay in a reformed
:02:23. > :02:25.European Union or do we leave? And I've said very clearly that whatever
:02:26. > :02:28.the outcome of the next election, and of course I want an overall
:02:29. > :02:31.majority and I'm hoping and believing I can win an overall
:02:32. > :02:34.majority, that people should be in no doubt I will not become Prime
:02:35. > :02:46.Minister unless I can guarantee that we will hold a referendum. Here's
:02:47. > :02:49.saying there that an overall majority there will definitely be a
:02:50. > :02:52.referendum. If these are the minority position, he won't form a
:02:53. > :02:58.new coalition unless they agree to a referendum, too. The Lib Dems a
:02:59. > :03:00.pulmonary agree to that. They probably will because the Prime
:03:01. > :03:05.ministers have a strong argument which is I gave you a referendum
:03:06. > :03:08.back in 2010 so the least I need is theirs and the Lib Dems are the only
:03:09. > :03:12.party who have stood in recent elections on a clear mandate to hold
:03:13. > :03:15.a referendum, so it is difficult for them to say no, there was
:03:16. > :03:20.interesting the interview he did earlier today. He named everything
:03:21. > :03:25.was going to ask for. The most controversial with him, as he said
:03:26. > :03:30.in his speech last year, he wants to take Britain out of the commitment
:03:31. > :03:35.to make the European Union and ever closer union. That is a very big
:03:36. > :03:38.ask, but the point is, he may well get it because the choice for the
:03:39. > :03:44.European Union now, France and Germany, is a clear wonderful do
:03:45. > :03:48.Britain in or out? Previously, it was can you put up with a British
:03:49. > :03:51.prime ministers being annoying? I think you'll find the answer is they
:03:52. > :03:56.are willing to pay a price but not any price to keep Britain in. In
:03:57. > :04:02.this scenario, Labour would have lost the election again because we
:04:03. > :04:05.are talking the slowly happen if Mr Cameron is the largest party or has
:04:06. > :04:10.an overall majority. Could you then see Labour deciding we had better go
:04:11. > :04:12.along with a referendum, too? I think that's unlikely because as I
:04:13. > :04:15.think that's unlikely because there's a huge upside for that for I
:04:16. > :04:19.think what's interesting is the idea he would for minority government.
:04:20. > :04:23.Would you get confidence and look at other options that might well happen
:04:24. > :04:27.with the way the arithmetic is going or is he going to hold out and say
:04:28. > :04:30.the only way I will be Prime Minister is in a majority
:04:31. > :04:36.Conservative government? No, the implication of his remarks was I
:04:37. > :04:40.wouldn't form a coalition government unless my coalition partners would
:04:41. > :04:42.also agree to vote for a referendum. He's basically talking about is
:04:43. > :04:48.negotiating strategy in those coalition talks. It's a red line and
:04:49. > :04:51.a huge opportunity for the Lib Dems, because they know David Cameron
:04:52. > :04:57.absolutely has to do, for accidental reasons, as a person who survives as
:04:58. > :05:01.Tory leader, to ask for that referendum, so they can ask anything
:05:02. > :05:04.they want in return and if I was Nick Clegg, I would work out in the
:05:05. > :05:11.next year one absolute colossal negotiating demand for those
:05:12. > :05:15.coalition talks. For a party around 10% in the polls, they will do have
:05:16. > :05:24.the Prime Minister over a barrel on this one, assuming that coalition
:05:25. > :05:29.talks goes well. They could make Michael Gove Tbyte meeting. OK, we
:05:30. > :05:33.need to move on. So, the politicians are out and about on what used to be
:05:34. > :05:36.called the stump ahead of local and European elections in less than two
:05:37. > :05:39.weeks' time. But, without wanting to depress you on a damp Sunday
:05:40. > :05:42.morning, the party strategists are already hard at work on their
:05:43. > :05:45.campaign plans for the General Election next May. Yes, it's less
:05:46. > :05:48.than a year to go. They may have taken their time, but Labour's
:05:49. > :05:51.battleplan for 2015 is starting to take shape. As well as take
:05:52. > :05:54.promising to freeze your energy bills, and reintroduce the 50p rate
:05:55. > :05:59.of tax, Ed Miliband now says he wants to intervene in the housing
:06:00. > :06:02.market to keep rents down. There's even talk that the party leadership
:06:03. > :06:08.wants to bring more railway lines into public ownership. And Labour is
:06:09. > :06:11.gambling that its big push on the cost of living will see it through
:06:12. > :06:14.to the general election despite evidence that growth is firmly back.
:06:15. > :06:21.Labour's campaign chief Douglas Alexander hopes it all adds up to
:06:22. > :06:26.victory next May. But so far, the evidence is hitting home very thin.
:06:27. > :06:31.One survey today shows that 56% of people don't think Mr Miliband is up
:06:32. > :06:33.to the job of Prime Minister. As we head towards one of the least
:06:34. > :06:39.predictable general elections in 70 years, has Labour got a message to
:06:40. > :06:41.win seats up and down the country? And Labour's election co-ordinator
:06:42. > :06:49.and Shadow Foreign Secretary, Douglas Alexander, joins me now.
:06:50. > :06:52.Welcome to Sunday Politics. A lot of these policies announced polar
:06:53. > :06:57.pretty well. By popular with the country. When you add them together,
:06:58. > :07:02.it's a move to the left and what would be wrong with that? I think is
:07:03. > :07:08.your packet suggests, the contours in the coming campaign are becoming
:07:09. > :07:11.clear. Our judgement is the defining issue of the year in British
:07:12. > :07:14.politics will be the widening gap between the wealth of the country
:07:15. > :07:17.and the finances of ordinary families. We believe it will be a
:07:18. > :07:21.cost of living election and we have been setting out our thinking in
:07:22. > :07:24.relation to energy prices and rent, but you will hear more from Labour
:07:25. > :07:29.Party in the coming months because we're now less than one year away
:07:30. > :07:32.from a decisive moment. If the leftish think tank suggested any of
:07:33. > :07:38.his policies in that Tony Blair years, you would have opposed them.
:07:39. > :07:43.Let's be clear, when not going for an interest but seeking to secure a
:07:44. > :07:47.majority for the only way to do that is not simply to appeal to your
:07:48. > :07:52.base, but to the centre ground. I believe we got genuine opportunities
:07:53. > :07:56.in the next year. You have the Conservatives in a struggle with
:07:57. > :08:00.UKIP on the right of politics. The Lib Dems 9% of trying to find their
:08:01. > :08:03.base, and there's a genuine opportunity in the next year for
:08:04. > :08:07.Labour to dominate the centre ground of politics and secure the majority
:08:08. > :08:11.Labour government we are planning for in the coming year. I notice you
:08:12. > :08:22.didn't deny you wouldn't have opposed. You say you have got an
:08:23. > :08:27.message for aspirational voters in the South. This is what John Denham
:08:28. > :08:37.said. He thinks you're talking too much to your core vote.
:08:38. > :08:46.He is right to recognise we took a terrible beating in 2010. 29%. If
:08:47. > :08:51.you look at what we've done in the last week, for example, the
:08:52. > :08:53.signature policy on rent Ed Miliband announced to launch the campaign,
:08:54. > :08:58.there's now more than 9 million people in the country in the private
:08:59. > :09:02.rented sector, more than 1 million families. Many of them are in the
:09:03. > :09:04.south-east. They are seeing circumstances where, suddenly,
:09:05. > :09:09.landlord will increase the rent and they put the pressure involved in
:09:10. > :09:14.schooling, health care facing the families, so it is important both in
:09:15. > :09:17.terms of policy and in terms of politics that we speak to the whole
:09:18. > :09:21.country, not simply to one part of it falls up what is the average rise
:09:22. > :09:30.in event last year? I don't know. Can you tell me? 1%. 1% not in real
:09:31. > :09:36.terms. I'm not sure what the problem is. It will happen to wages in last
:09:37. > :09:42.year, we are facing circumstances where people will be worse off, up
:09:43. > :09:47.to ?1600 off worse and frankly, if our opponents want to argue that the
:09:48. > :09:51.economy has healed and they deserve a victory lap, good luck to them
:09:52. > :09:56.because actually, what we are hearing from the Buddhist public,
:09:57. > :10:00.not just in the north and south, is not the cost living crisis is
:10:01. > :10:03.continuing and it affects families. There was nothing aspirational about
:10:04. > :10:08.your party election broadcast for the European elections. It looked
:10:09. > :10:13.like crude class war to money people. That's a bit of it. Bedroom
:10:14. > :10:16.tax. Isn't it going to look bad that two thirds of those affected are
:10:17. > :10:23.disabled? Who cares? They can't fight back. Shall be lay-offs and
:10:24. > :10:37.NHS nurses? The National Health Service? Oh yes. Mr Cameron? Who
:10:38. > :10:41.said that? Me. My gosh. The man has shrunk. He's actually shrunk. What
:10:42. > :10:48.shall we do with him? Can we hunt him? Nothing about Europe, Labour
:10:49. > :10:53.policy. News that the Tories would result in negative campaigning and
:10:54. > :10:57.smear. You didn't tell you would be just as bad. Let's start the party
:10:58. > :11:03.broadcast. The one thing guaranteed to have most people reaching for the
:11:04. > :11:08.remote control these days are the words, there now follows a party but
:11:09. > :11:12.the broadcast. I make no apology in the factory to be innovative in how
:11:13. > :11:16.we presented. It's factual. It was a policy -based critic of this
:11:17. > :11:21.government. And the Lib Dems role within it. So you're claiming it's
:11:22. > :11:29.factual to betray the camera and cabinet is not even knowing what the
:11:30. > :11:33.NHS is, -- the Cameron Cabinet. They attack the disabled because they
:11:34. > :11:38.can't fight back. The Pinellas Tanner severely Prime Minister Sun
:11:39. > :11:44.and he was treated during a short life by the NHS. It's a fact many
:11:45. > :11:48.disabled people across the country including in my constituency have
:11:49. > :11:51.been directly affected by the bedroom tax. And ultimately, this
:11:52. > :11:56.Conservative led government, including the Lib Dems, will be held
:11:57. > :12:00.accountable by the politicians. You say that, the Prime Minister, who
:12:01. > :12:05.had a severely disabled son of. I you not ashamed about? I shadowed
:12:06. > :12:11.Iain Duncan Smith of five months also they don't have the excuses of
:12:12. > :12:14.seeing that saying nobody told them the consequences of the bedroom tax.
:12:15. > :12:19.They went into this with their eyes open. They knew about the hardship
:12:20. > :12:21.and difficulty. If they were one-bedroom properties available
:12:22. > :12:26.across the country for people to move into, their argument would be
:12:27. > :12:31.OK but they knew they were dealing with the most vulnerable people. Did
:12:32. > :12:37.you sign off that part of the broadcast? Of course I stand by the
:12:38. > :12:41.fact of it. I wish David Cameron and Iain Duncan Smith would apologise to
:12:42. > :12:44.the disabled people of the country and the poorest people for the
:12:45. > :12:51.effects of the bedroom tax. I hope we get that apology between now and
:12:52. > :12:56.election. As someone who thinks integrity is important in politics,
:12:57. > :12:59.not ashamed of this kind of thing? It's important we scrutinise the
:13:00. > :13:06.policies of this government as well as adding a positive agenda for
:13:07. > :13:11.change. You want that you won't promise this is the last time we'll
:13:12. > :13:13.see such a negative press campaign? I don't think it is negative or
:13:14. > :13:18.personal to scrutinise the government. So we'll get more of
:13:19. > :13:24.this? I'm less interested in the background of the cabinet than their
:13:25. > :13:28.views. You call the upper-class twits. It's for the British public
:13:29. > :13:32.to make a judgement in terms of the British... That's how you depicted
:13:33. > :13:39.them. We are held in accountable for the bedroom tax, the NHS, taxation,
:13:40. > :13:42.and our record they have to defend. One reason are so fearful in this
:13:43. > :13:47.election is actually because they know they have a poor record. Let's
:13:48. > :13:54.look at other part of the election campaign. This poster. Particularly
:13:55. > :14:01.digitally doing the rounds. On that shopping basket, can you tell us
:14:02. > :14:04.which items take the full 20% VAT? It's representative of household
:14:05. > :14:08.shopping, which includes items like cleaning products, and we know that
:14:09. > :14:24.food is not that trouble. People don't go to the supermarket and say
:14:25. > :14:28.this is -- vatable. So you are denying that ?450 extra is being
:14:29. > :14:36.paid? Yes, where'd you get that figure? For an average family to pay
:14:37. > :14:44.?450 a year extra VAT, they would have to spend ?21,600 a year on
:14:45. > :14:48.vatable products at 20%. The average take-home pay is only 21,009. They
:14:49. > :14:53.have got to spend on all sorts of things which are zero VAT. So in
:14:54. > :15:00.addition to the items, has a range of products people face in terms of
:15:01. > :15:07.VAT. How could an average family of ?21,000 a year spent 21,006 and the
:15:08. > :15:15.pound a year on 20% vatable items? It's not an annual figure, is it? So
:15:16. > :15:20.what is it then? If it's an annual, what is it? The increased VAT in
:15:21. > :15:26.this parliament is calculated over the course of a Parliament. For the
:15:27. > :15:32.whole of the Parliament? And you're illustrated this with a shopping
:15:33. > :15:37.basket which almost has no VAT on it at all? People will be buying a
:15:38. > :15:42.weekly shop in the course of this Parliament every week. Did you sign
:15:43. > :15:46.off on this as well? Of course. It didn't dawn on you you're putting
:15:47. > :15:51.things on it which have no VAT? If you want to argue some people go to
:15:52. > :16:00.the shops and say these are vatable or not, I disagree. Even your rent
:16:01. > :16:03.cap announcement went wrong. You're working on the rent rises and it
:16:04. > :16:13.turns out it wasn't. It was a post your policy. It is the exception
:16:14. > :16:17.rather than the rule to have the position we have at the moment. In
:16:18. > :16:21.Northern Ireland we have seen the continued rise in terms of the
:16:22. > :16:28.rented sector but there is a widespread recognition that for
:16:29. > :16:33.those people in the rented sector, change is necessary. Are you
:16:34. > :16:44.coordinating this campaign? It seems accident prone. This is a party that
:16:45. > :16:47.has set the agenda more effectively than a Conservative party that said
:16:48. > :16:56.when David Cameron was elected he wasn't going to bang on about
:16:57. > :17:02.Europe. The day after the election we expect the Conservative party to
:17:03. > :17:06.be engulfed in crisis. I'm proud of what we talk about and I think there
:17:07. > :17:11.is a clear contrast about a party talking about issues people care
:17:12. > :17:15.about, and a Conservative party talking about exclusively a
:17:16. > :17:23.referendum. Are you in charge of the campaign? I am coordinating the
:17:24. > :17:29.campaign is, yes. The expensive election guru you have hired, has he
:17:30. > :17:34.been involved in any of this? We have started our discussions with
:17:35. > :17:38.him. You are going to have to brief him about British politics because
:17:39. > :17:45.he doesn't know anything about it. I make no apology for hiring him. He
:17:46. > :17:50.has a lot of experience in winning tight elections and that is what we
:17:51. > :17:56.are expecting. If you are expecting us to say, they have passed and we
:17:57. > :18:03.have to hold them accountable, then I am sorry but we have a campaign
:18:04. > :18:12.that holds the Government and the Conservatives to account for what I
:18:13. > :18:17.think is a very hopeless record in government. Thank you.
:18:18. > :18:21.He leads a party with zero MPs but his media presence is huge. He's had
:18:22. > :18:23.an expenses scandal, but the public didn't seem to mind. He's got a
:18:24. > :18:26.privileged background but he's seen as an anti-establishment champion.
:18:27. > :18:30.Nothing seems to stick to him, not even eggs. I speak of course of
:18:31. > :18:33.Nigel Farage. We'll talk to him in a moment, but first Giles has been out
:18:34. > :18:36.on the campaign trail ahead of elections that could make or break
:18:37. > :18:39.the UKIP leader. Nigel Farage likes a stage, and at
:18:40. > :18:44.this stage of the Euro and local election campaign he is, like his
:18:45. > :18:47.party, in buoyant mood. They feel they are on the verge of what they
:18:48. > :18:52.see as causing an earthquake in British politics. Today Nigel is
:18:53. > :19:02.filling thousands seat venues and bigger. Not that there's much sign
:19:03. > :19:05.of that at this press launch. But it's a threat with serious money
:19:06. > :19:07.behind it, that they believe the media and the political elite just
:19:08. > :19:11.haven't realised yet, much less learned how to counter it. Not that
:19:12. > :19:13.it's all been plain sailing. Offensive comments from some
:19:14. > :19:16.candidates has not only seen UKIP labelled as racist, but necessitated
:19:17. > :19:24.a rally by the party to visibly and verbally challenge that. The
:19:25. > :19:26.offensive idiotic statements made by this handful of people have been
:19:27. > :19:31.lifted up and presented to the great British public as if they represent
:19:32. > :19:34.the view of this party, which they do not. They never have and they
:19:35. > :19:50.never will. APPLAUSE I don't care what you call us, but
:19:51. > :20:01.from this moment on, please do not call must trust a racist party. We
:20:02. > :20:04.are not a racist party. The need to say that is not just
:20:05. > :20:07.about the European and local elections even at that campaign
:20:08. > :20:10.launch it's clear UKIP's leader has set his sights firmly on the
:20:11. > :20:12.ultimate prize. I come from the south of England and I would not
:20:13. > :20:17.want to be seen as an opportunist heading to the north, north Norfolk
:20:18. > :20:23.or whatever it will be. I will make my mind up and stand in the general
:20:24. > :20:28.election for somewhere in Kent, East Sussex, Hampshire, somewhere in my
:20:29. > :20:38.home patch. Back at UKIP HQ they are still drilling down how the last
:20:39. > :20:40.fortnight of campaigning should go. They aren't taking any chances, and
:20:41. > :20:44.one imagines having offices above those of Max Clifford is a reminder
:20:45. > :20:46.how fragile built reputations can be of the bubble bursting. They want
:20:47. > :20:49.their reputation to be built on votes and they know anything but
:20:50. > :20:57.significant success on May 22nd and some seats in Westminster in 2015
:20:58. > :21:00.isn't going to be good enough. And after that, having sold yourselves
:21:01. > :21:03.as the honest outsiders, that stance is harder to maintain once your
:21:04. > :21:10.people are on the inside. And subtle changes from the past are already
:21:11. > :21:12.noticeable. The ordinary man of the people stance is still working.
:21:13. > :21:19.Characteristically outside a pub, Nigel Farage is glad handed by a
:21:20. > :21:24.customer. Two weeks to go, let's cause an upset. Wouldn't that be
:21:25. > :21:27.great? The only sign that such an interaction is different now is the
:21:28. > :21:39.ever presence of bodyguards who shadow his every move. Over lunch
:21:40. > :21:42.ahead of Question Time, a radio appearance, and then off to
:21:43. > :21:46.Scotland, I ask him if some of those minded to vote UKIP who see him as a
:21:47. > :21:49.man they'd be comfortable having a drink with are the sort of people
:21:50. > :21:51.he'd be entirely comfortable sitting down with. Every political party
:21:52. > :21:54.attracts support from across the spectrum and there will be some
:21:55. > :22:02.magnificent people who vote for us and some ne'er-do-wells. The one
:22:03. > :22:08.common thing about UKIP voters is that they are often not very
:22:09. > :22:11.political. And it's that people's army that if UKIP can get to a
:22:12. > :22:18.polling booth might just create that earthquake they want.
:22:19. > :22:21.Nigel Farage joins me now. When you decided not to stand at the new work
:22:22. > :22:28.by election coming said if you lost it that the bubble would have
:22:29. > :22:47.burst. What did you mean by that? I was asked at seven 20p -- at 7:21pm
:22:48. > :22:53.if I would stand, I have decided by the next morning that I would not. I
:22:54. > :22:57.didn't know he was going to resign. You claim only a handful of UKIP
:22:58. > :23:04.candidates have ever said things that are either stupid or offensive,
:23:05. > :23:10.I'm right on that, yes? 0.1%, I'd rather it was non-. But why have you
:23:11. > :23:14.chosen a candidate to fight this by-election that has said many
:23:15. > :23:20.things most people would regard as stupid or offensive? Roger is
:23:21. > :23:26.fighting this for us, someone of 70 years of age who grew up with a
:23:27. > :23:31.strong Christian Bible background, in an age when homosexuality was
:23:32. > :23:35.imprisonable. He had a certain set of views which he maintained for
:23:36. > :23:41.many years which he now says he accepts the world has moved on and
:23:42. > :23:46.he is relaxed about it. The comments about homosexuality are not from the
:23:47. > :23:52.dark ages, they are from two or three years ago. From when he was a
:23:53. > :23:57.Conservative, yes, so will you be asking David Cameron that question?
:23:58. > :24:04.I have never seen a single comment from Roger that would be deemed to
:24:05. > :24:09.be offensive. Do you regard his comments on homosexuality as
:24:10. > :24:14.offensive? When he grew up, homosexuality was illegal in this
:24:15. > :24:25.country. But this was in 2012 but he said that. Most people have his age
:24:26. > :24:32.still feel uncomfortable about it -- of his age. In 2012 he said, if two
:24:33. > :24:38.men can be married, why not three, why not a commune. Many people in
:24:39. > :24:43.this country are disconcerted by the change in the meaning of marriage
:24:44. > :24:47.and in a tolerant society we understand that some people have
:24:48. > :24:52.different views. But he has changed his views now in only two years? He
:24:53. > :25:03.says he is more relaxed about it. Was he your candidate? He is a
:25:04. > :25:07.first-class campaigner who has had 30 years in industry, he served in
:25:08. > :25:12.the European Parliament, he is a good candidate. This morning's
:25:13. > :25:17.papers suggest you are about to select Victoria Ayling for Grimsby,
:25:18. > :25:22.but she is on camera saying that, of immigrants, I just want to send a
:25:23. > :25:26.lot back. This is all very interesting, and we can talk about
:25:27. > :25:30.it, all we could talk about the fact that in 12 days we have a European
:25:31. > :25:37.election and every voter across the UK can vote on it and it is really
:25:38. > :25:45.interesting. Are you happy to pick a candidate that says of immigrants, I
:25:46. > :25:50.just want to send a lot back? I have seen the tape, it is a complete
:25:51. > :25:58.misquote and she says it in the context of illegal immigrants. I
:25:59. > :26:01.have seen the full quote and in the context it is not about illegal
:26:02. > :26:06.immigrants. Let's come onto the European campaign, you have used a
:26:07. > :26:11.company that employs Eastern European is to deliver leaflets in
:26:12. > :26:17.London and the Home Counties. Have we? I'm told that in Croydon one
:26:18. > :26:23.branch might have done that. Have you found some indigenous Brits to
:26:24. > :26:27.deliver leaflets in Europe? We have thousands joining the party every
:26:28. > :26:30.month and they are not all indigenous because what is
:26:31. > :26:46.interesting is that in today's opinion polls, UKIP is above the Lib
:26:47. > :26:56.Dems and the Conservatives amongst the indigenous voting.
:26:57. > :27:03.We have not agreed a manifesto for the general election, we will do
:27:04. > :27:09.over the course of the summer. This is in your local election. We are
:27:10. > :27:13.having local elections in some part of the country but we are fighting a
:27:14. > :27:18.European election. It is impossible with the British media to have an
:27:19. > :27:24.intelligent debate on the European question. But as I say, we are also
:27:25. > :27:31.fighting the local elections too. You have promised these tax cuts,
:27:32. > :27:36.how much will they cost? I have met -- read the local election manifesto
:27:37. > :27:40.and it doesn't make those promises. We do talk about local services, we
:27:41. > :27:48.do talk about the need to keep council tax down but we don't talk
:27:49. > :27:52.about income tax. Absolutely not. In local election campaigning you say
:27:53. > :27:58.you would restore cuts to policing, double prison places, restore cuts
:27:59. > :28:05.to front line NHS, spend more on roads, how much would that cost? You
:28:06. > :28:10.are obviously reading different documents to me. We are voting for
:28:11. > :28:17.local councillors in district councils who have got little local
:28:18. > :28:23.budgets. Every party in a manifesto puts his aspirations in it. Have you
:28:24. > :28:29.read it? Of course I have, cover to cover, which is why I'm saying you
:28:30. > :28:36.are misquoting it. By the way, on the bubble bursting, you told that
:28:37. > :28:41.to Norman Smith of the BBC. 75% of British laws are now made in the
:28:42. > :28:46.European Union. Now AstraZeneca is potentially going to be taken over
:28:47. > :28:51.by Pfizer. The BBC is refusing to show the public that that decision
:28:52. > :28:55.cannot be taken here but by an elected European commissioner, and
:28:56. > :29:09.we sit and argue about what is in or not in the local election manifesto.
:29:10. > :29:12.It is my job, but let me come on to AstraZeneca. Is it your view that a
:29:13. > :29:24.British government should stop the takeover of AstraZeneca? It cannot.
:29:25. > :29:29.Can we please get this clear. I sat next to Chuka Umunna the other day
:29:30. > :29:34.at question time and he said what could and couldn't be done. He said
:29:35. > :29:38.I am being studiously neutral, and the reason is we don't have this
:29:39. > :29:44.power. That is what the European elections is about. Should France
:29:45. > :30:02.have the takeover of the food company Danan? We seem to do things
:30:03. > :30:06.to the Nth degree and nobody else does, perhaps because we have this
:30:07. > :30:15.culture and we obey it. In your view, you don't think Pfizer should
:30:16. > :30:19.be able to take over AstraZeneca? There is some good science within
:30:20. > :30:26.AstraZeneca which is in danger of being asset stripped and lost.
:30:27. > :30:31.Because it is run by a Swede and a Frenchman and most of its employees
:30:32. > :30:36.are overseas. I understand that but there are still some good science
:30:37. > :30:39.being produced here. What did you think of the Prime Minister saying
:30:40. > :30:45.he would not form a government after the election unless he was able to
:30:46. > :30:52.have a referendum in 2017? I sat here talking to you and you said to
:30:53. > :30:56.me that David Cameron had given a cast-iron guarantee that if David
:30:57. > :31:00.Cameron becomes Prime Minister he will have a referendum on the Lisbon
:31:01. > :31:05.Treaty, but he didn't deliver on that. He knows that people struggle
:31:06. > :31:11.to believe the renegotiation is worth a row of beans. He is saying
:31:12. > :31:15.he will not form a government unless he can go forward with the
:31:16. > :31:18.referendum. I know he is desperately trying to pretend to be Eurosceptic
:31:19. > :31:23.whilst at the same time saying he will campaign for Britain to remain
:31:24. > :31:27.in. In a sense, that is what this election is about. We have three
:31:28. > :31:30.traditional parties, all of whom passionately believe in the
:31:31. > :31:35.continued membership of the European Union and we have UKIP saying we
:31:36. > :31:40.want trade and cooperation but there is a bigger and better world out
:31:41. > :31:51.there. You are now travelling with I think four bodyguards, has this
:31:52. > :31:55.affected you and your family life? I can't stand it. I've always wondered
:31:56. > :31:59.about the place and on my own thing. Sadly we have a couple of
:32:00. > :32:02.organisations out there headed up by senior Labour Party figures who
:32:03. > :32:07.purport to be against fascism and extremism, who received funding from
:32:08. > :32:11.the Department of communities, from the trade unions, who have acted in
:32:12. > :32:16.a violent wait more than once. You are saying the Labour Party is
:32:17. > :32:20.behind the threats? No, I said a taxpayer funded, trade union funded
:32:21. > :32:23.and headed by senior Labour Party figures, and I'm happy for them to
:32:24. > :32:27.come to my meetings and have an itinerant with me, but it's not so
:32:28. > :32:33.much fun when there are banging you over the head. I is still keen to be
:32:34. > :32:38.an MP? Yes, what UKIP will then do is target before the general
:32:39. > :32:43.election next year for the one life be easier if you just went to the
:32:44. > :32:47.Lords? That's the last thing I want to do. There's an awful lot to do.
:32:48. > :32:51.Most of all, I will not rest until we are free from political union and
:32:52. > :32:54.government from Brussels. Nigel Farage, thank you for being with us.
:32:55. > :32:57.It's just gone 11.30am. You're watching the Sunday Politics. We say
:32:58. > :33:00.goodbye to viewers in Scotland, who leave us now for Sunday Politics
:33:01. > :33:03.Scotland. Coming up here in 20 minutes, our panel talks about the
:33:04. > :33:17.big stories of the week. First though,
:33:18. > :33:21.big stories of the week. First Good morning and welcome to the part
:33:22. > :33:24.of the show just for us here in the West. Coming up: Labour in Somerset
:33:25. > :33:30.put out a poster comparing UKIP supporters to zombies who vote
:33:31. > :33:33.without thinking. The political mudslinging of today all seems
:33:34. > :33:36.rather tame compared to what went on in Victorian times. We'll dive into
:33:37. > :33:39.Bristol's archives and find evidence that campaigning used to be far more
:33:40. > :33:43.vicious. And talking of mudslinging, we've got two guests who will be
:33:44. > :33:47.going at it hammer and tongs but later in the programme. They are
:33:48. > :33:50.Sophie Gardner for Labour and, from UKIP, Jake Shaw. They're both
:33:51. > :34:01.standing in West Country seating next year's general election. ``
:34:02. > :34:04.West Country seats in next year's general election. But first, let's
:34:05. > :34:07.talk nicely about the other elections that are taking place this
:34:08. > :34:12.month` the ones to local councils. Here is Paul Barltrop. This year's
:34:13. > :34:16.local elections in the West are small in number but big in
:34:17. > :34:19.significance. A third of seats are up in Bristol and Labour next year
:34:20. > :34:21.end to seize Parliamentary seats from both coalition parties. In
:34:22. > :34:25.Stroud and Gloucester, the Conservatives are the largest group
:34:26. > :34:27.on hung councils and have MPs with slender majorities. In nearby
:34:28. > :34:31.Cheltenham, it's a coalition dogfight. A Lib Dem Council and Lib
:34:32. > :34:37.Dem MP with the Tories on the attack. Finally, there's Swindon,
:34:38. > :34:40.and that's always one to watch. The Conservatives have both Westminster
:34:41. > :34:43.seats and run the borough. But it's very close, with Labour chasing
:34:44. > :34:46.hard. For decades, Swindon's been a barometer for general election
:34:47. > :34:49.success. Navigate its famous Magic Roundabout and the road to Downing
:34:50. > :34:53.Street lies open. Its museum shows its working`class roots but also a
:34:54. > :34:58.more middle class side. Like its renowned collection of 20th century
:34:59. > :35:09.paintings. Art lover Eric Burnett`Godfrey says the town is
:35:10. > :35:12.moving up in the world. Swindon has a very strong tradition of art and
:35:13. > :35:16.culture practice. I think what Swindon needs is to step up into the
:35:17. > :35:19.professional league and become a first division cultural town to
:35:20. > :35:22.match the economic growth that is taking place here recently. This
:35:23. > :35:25.socioeconomic change is a challenge for Labour. Jack Straw is one of a
:35:26. > :35:36.procession of senior figures who visited. Voters exhibit mixed
:35:37. > :35:40.loyalties but little enthusiasm. I don't hardly vote at all if I'm
:35:41. > :35:44.honest. I don't hardly vote. A lot of them, they say things and they
:35:45. > :35:47.don't always mean what they say. Why Labour? Because I hate what the
:35:48. > :35:49.Tories have done to this country. Probably the Conservatives, still.
:35:50. > :35:54.There's something what comes across to me from UKIP but I think, for
:35:55. > :36:02.people my age and all, I think they will do a better job for me. UKIP
:36:03. > :36:05.are bullish. Membership is at a high. They're leafleting hard,
:36:06. > :36:08.standing candidates in all 20 wards. That's quite a contrast to the
:36:09. > :36:10.Liberal Democrats, who are currently the third party in the council
:36:11. > :36:13.chamber. For the ruling Conservatives, it isn't easy. They
:36:14. > :36:16.prefer to highlight their party's track record locally, not
:36:17. > :36:21.nationally. And they hope to appeal to Swindon's growing middle classes
:36:22. > :36:24.with a new purpose`built museum. Swindon's demographic clearly has
:36:25. > :36:27.changed over the years quite dramatically and if you have a new
:36:28. > :36:30.art gallery, I think that speaks volumes about the town's commitment
:36:31. > :36:33.to culture and wanting to place that at the heart of its growth and
:36:34. > :36:35.development. So Swindon's changing, economically
:36:36. > :36:38.and culturally. But politically, it's hard to predict.
:36:39. > :36:43.OK, let's pick up a few issues coming out of that film. Sophie,
:36:44. > :36:47.you're standing for another important seat in the West Country.
:36:48. > :36:57.Do you take the point that Labour needs to appeal to aspirational
:36:58. > :37:07.voters? Or are you happy just to appeal to core voters? No, I'm not
:37:08. > :37:10.happy to appeal just to core voters. Clearly, if the people that voted
:37:11. > :37:14.for us last time, next election next year, vote in the same numbers, I
:37:15. > :37:18.won't be winning in Gloucester so that would be a bad idea. Tony Blair
:37:19. > :37:21.famously went for Mondeo man, didn't he? I don't recall that particular
:37:22. > :37:25.campaign. You're making me stand old now! `` you're making me sound old.
:37:26. > :37:28.But I can promise you, it was quite famous. I think we need to talk to
:37:29. > :37:31.lots of different people. It's people shifting their views of what
:37:32. > :37:35.Labour's offering, what it stands for, how we actually want to change
:37:36. > :37:38.the future for this country in terms of offering young people a better
:37:39. > :37:41.future than the one that they're facing at the moment. With great
:37:42. > :37:44.unemployment prospects, expensive education, punitive benefits and so
:37:45. > :37:48.on and so forth. I just think they need something positive. Let's go to
:37:49. > :37:52.UKIP. What would be the point of voting for UKIP in a local election?
:37:53. > :37:55.What's it got to do with anything? Well, we've got some pretty active
:37:56. > :37:58.local councillors where we've got them. We're running ten candidates
:37:59. > :38:06.in Stroud, for instance, whereas the Liberal Democrats are running three.
:38:07. > :38:15.But say there was a debate about a local car park or whether to cut the
:38:16. > :38:18.village green. Why would you need an out of Europe guy to do that?
:38:19. > :38:21.Because it's all about grassroots politics. It's all about getting
:38:22. > :38:23.power back to the people where they live and that's actually
:38:24. > :38:26.underpinning everything we've been talking about. And our councillors
:38:27. > :38:30.do that, too. Well, that's very good if they do but the point is that
:38:31. > :38:35.that's why you should vote for a local guy who's going to do the work
:38:36. > :38:38.for you. We have a councillor up in Lincolnshire who actually clean the
:38:39. > :38:42.toilets every day. So I think a local UKIP councillor ` vote for the
:38:43. > :38:45.guy who's going to work for you. You see, the considered thinking is that
:38:46. > :38:48.you might do well in these elections, the European elections,
:38:49. > :38:52.but after that, the tide goes out. Well, the old Chinese proverb is "we
:38:53. > :38:56.shall see", but I think we're going to do all right in the general
:38:57. > :39:00.election as well. Why are you not way ahead in the polls at this
:39:01. > :39:04.stage? I don't know. I'm not really looking at the polls. I'm measuring
:39:05. > :39:07.it on how we are doing when we're talking with people, what people are
:39:08. > :39:11.worried about the stop if I obsessed with all the polls and all the
:39:12. > :39:15.figures, I'd never get any work done and, actually, what I need to be
:39:16. > :39:18.doing is talking to people in Gloucester. And what have they told
:39:19. > :39:22.you about why you're not ahead in the polls? I don't talk to them
:39:23. > :39:25.about the polls. We talk about... You must say, "are you going to vote
:39:26. > :39:29.Labour?" And they must say "no". What do you say to that? Normally
:39:30. > :39:33.you talk about what they're planning to vote, if they're planning to
:39:34. > :39:37.vote. Some of them are just angry. I spoke to one young guy who'd never
:39:38. > :39:40.voted last week and he, sort of, was closing down the conversation. He
:39:41. > :39:44.said, "you don't understand my life". And I said, what sort of
:39:45. > :39:47.life? And he was in the Navy. And actually, we had a really good five,
:39:48. > :39:50.ten minute conversation about some of the issues that are facing our
:39:51. > :39:54.defence forces, which, of course, being ex`air force I could talk
:39:55. > :39:58.about. And I was at sea for two years with the Navy. So you talk to
:39:59. > :40:02.people and you find out what it is that concerns them. How much of a
:40:03. > :40:06.blue would it be for UKIP if they didn't do well in the local
:40:07. > :40:11.elections? Well, we would like to do well. How much of a blow? It would
:40:12. > :40:14.be the same as any blow to any party that didn't do well in a local
:40:15. > :40:18.election. But I think we're going to do well, cos we've got loads of
:40:19. > :40:21.active people. I know in my constituency, where we haven't got
:40:22. > :40:25.any local elections, our party's very active in local causes. They
:40:26. > :40:29.raised a bunch of money and did a load of bag holding in the floods,
:40:30. > :40:32.for instance. So how will we do? I think we're going to do well. Will
:40:33. > :40:35.it be disastrous if we don't? No, because we're going forward to the
:40:36. > :40:39.general election. OK. Thank you. Now, the gloves came off in the
:40:40. > :40:42.election race this week. A Labour Party political broadcast was
:40:43. > :40:45.devoted to belittling Nick Clegg and an article written by Labour in
:40:46. > :40:48.Somerset accused UKIP followers of being zombies who'd had their brains
:40:49. > :40:50.removed. Robert Markwell has been taking a look at the rough side of
:40:51. > :40:53.politics. Their opponents would like you to
:40:54. > :40:57.think they come from outer space. But if the polls are to be believed,
:40:58. > :41:00.UKIP supporters, or Kippers, are already here en masse. This version
:41:01. > :41:04.of a 1950s sci`fi film poster is just one of a raft of attack ads.
:41:05. > :41:07.It's being circulated online by Labour in Somerset. They've compared
:41:08. > :41:12.UKIP supporters to zombies, voting without thinking. I don't believe
:41:13. > :41:19.that what we are engaging in is negative campaigning. I believe UKIP
:41:20. > :41:22.are engaged in negative campaigning and I think the type of poster
:41:23. > :41:25.campaign they've run, which scapegoats immigrants and so on,
:41:26. > :41:27.terrifies other people. It is negative campaigning. What we're
:41:28. > :41:31.doing is challenging that negative campaigning by getting people to
:41:32. > :41:36.look at the real issues and that's what politics should be about `
:41:37. > :41:39.looking at the real issues. Privately, some Conservatives have
:41:40. > :41:42.told me they thought Labour went a bit too far. But the Tories, too,
:41:43. > :41:49.have been putting out their own anti`UKIP leaflets, and in UKIP
:41:50. > :41:53.colours. It was a point we put to the PM on his tour of the West this
:41:54. > :41:57.week. That is saying, quite right, that you could say one thing and
:41:58. > :41:59.then they say another. You wouldn't know that that's a Conservative
:42:00. > :42:03.leaflet. No, you absolutely would know it's a Conservative leaflet
:42:04. > :42:06.because it says at the bottom that it is promoted by the Conservative
:42:07. > :42:09.party. UKIP says it happened to shrug off the brickbats but how do
:42:10. > :42:13.these messages go down where it really matters, with the voters? ``
:42:14. > :42:23.happy to shrug off the brickbats. We sought professional advice at the
:42:24. > :42:26.Bristol communications agency. We have a whole load of disaffected
:42:27. > :42:29.voters. And with that, I don't think negative campaigning works. They
:42:30. > :42:32.will not be trusting the words coming out of the politicians that
:42:33. > :42:37.they've already decided they don't trust. And when it comes to trust,
:42:38. > :42:40.you might have thought we were more trusting about politicians in
:42:41. > :42:42.centuries past. But a glance through one of the largest collections of
:42:43. > :42:45.political leaflets in the country reveals anything but. If you thought
:42:46. > :42:49.politicians could be pretty rough with each other today, they have
:42:50. > :42:53.nothing on the Victorians. Take a look at this leaflet from the 1878
:42:54. > :42:57.Bristol by`election. It's from the Liberal candidate. He says, "vote
:42:58. > :43:07.for me and you get peace aplenty and a table filled with food". However,
:43:08. > :43:10.should you dare vote for his Conservative rival, he claims,
:43:11. > :43:13."you'll end up with long hours, little pay and, in the end,
:43:14. > :43:15.starvation". So whether it's the threat of emaciation then or
:43:16. > :43:19.zombification now, politics has always been a mucky business. For
:43:20. > :43:22.voters hardened to at all, they will have had enough of the scare
:43:23. > :43:26.stories. Thanks to Bristol University for
:43:27. > :43:30.showing us their collection. They say they're always grateful for new
:43:31. > :43:35.material. OK, let's just talk about that. Do you think he's a braindead
:43:36. > :43:38.zombie? No, I don't. Why has your party issued material that suggests
:43:39. > :43:42.they might think that? I can't tell you why a councillor in a different
:43:43. > :43:50.part of the South West has done it. It's not my style. I don't think
:43:51. > :43:53.that... If you want to have a conversation about with people and
:43:54. > :43:56.people are deciding how to vote and they might be thinking about voting
:43:57. > :44:00.UKIP but they might be thinking about voting Labour, or for other
:44:01. > :44:03.parties, if I want to start a conversation I'm not going to be
:44:04. > :44:07.helpful if I start that conversation by insulting them. Do you think that
:44:08. > :44:10.some people in the Labour Party don't really get UKIP and don't
:44:11. > :44:14.respect people who think they have good ideas? I wouldn't say that. I
:44:15. > :44:18.think... We're talking about it so it's getting attention, and I can
:44:19. > :44:21.see that some people want to do that. Below that message ` obviously
:44:22. > :44:25.I've read it now ` are some quite good points about the fact that UKIP
:44:26. > :44:30.MEPs claim all their expenses but do very little work in Europe. So I can
:44:31. > :44:33.see why people do it. It isn't my style. Do you recognise this
:44:34. > :44:36.description of your followers as being zombies? No, absolutely not.
:44:37. > :44:40.And I actually have to say that I was a Labour voter and I've been to
:44:41. > :44:44.university. I run my own businesses. Being a zombie is not helpful for
:44:45. > :44:48.running your own business. I think it's insulting. I think it's
:44:49. > :44:53.negative campaigning and I think that it will backfire because nobody
:44:54. > :44:57.wants to be talked to like that. If you go and tell somebody to go to
:44:58. > :45:00.hail, if you like, they are hardly going to be predisposed to be
:45:01. > :45:04.positive about any message you've got after that. The question people
:45:05. > :45:08.might ask is what your policies are. We know you want out of Europe but
:45:09. > :45:11.we don't really know much more about you. Well, as with most parties, our
:45:12. > :45:19.general election manifesto isn't out yet. Or any policies at all. We have
:45:20. > :45:22.quite a few policies. Before I was coming on the programme, we were
:45:23. > :45:25.talking about railways, we were talking about cheese. We do have
:45:26. > :45:28.issues. So you've got policies on cheese and railways? What's your
:45:29. > :45:30.railway policy, as a matter of interest? Well, we don't support
:45:31. > :45:34.renationalisation. We don't support HS2, because it's an EU vanity
:45:35. > :45:38.project and it's a lot of money we could spend on upgrading the rest of
:45:39. > :45:41.the railway, for instance. We actually believe that travellers on
:45:42. > :45:47.the railway should have some say in franchises. We believe franchises
:45:48. > :45:50.should be longer. OK. Is it true that, as was put out in Labour's
:45:51. > :45:59.material, that you would cut maternity pay by more than half? No.
:46:00. > :46:02.OK. Is it true you would hand the whole of the NHS over to private
:46:03. > :46:06.companies? No, but the Conservative party is trying to do that right
:46:07. > :46:09.now. OK. Well, if you ask him what his policies are, those, on that...
:46:10. > :46:14.It's just "no, they're not." It's very difficult to pin them down.
:46:15. > :46:18.Maybe cheese we can discuss. Yeah, when you going to come up with
:46:19. > :46:22.something which is more than just "we want out of Europe"? Well, we're
:46:23. > :46:26.working on it now and what are we coming up with? We've got a lot of
:46:27. > :46:30.people who want to get back to control for the voters out there. So
:46:31. > :46:34.we want to localise a lot of what happens. We want to reduce the size
:46:35. > :46:37.of government, we want to reduce the amount of bureaucracy and red tape
:46:38. > :46:41.that people have to deal within their lives and in their business.
:46:42. > :46:45.Why is it, then, the mud doesn't seem to stick when it's thrown at
:46:46. > :46:48.UKIP but it would if it was thrown at Labour? Labour carry some of the
:46:49. > :46:52.blame, that's why. That's a very long... I could almost write an
:46:53. > :46:55.essay on it. I'm not absolutely sure. I think it's because UKIP is
:46:56. > :46:59.anti`politics. It's a negative thing and it's against things, it wants
:47:00. > :47:02.out of things and so on. And at the moment, there's very little positive
:47:03. > :47:05.policy. That's not true at all. I think, therefore, when you're being
:47:06. > :47:09.an anti`politician, as Farage very much as, you are a bit more Teflon
:47:10. > :47:12.in terms of... Do you think it has backfired, all this negative
:47:13. > :47:15.fruitcake stuff? I think it's giving UKIP additional publicity that they
:47:16. > :47:19.would have... Why don't you stop doing it, then? I'm not doing it. I
:47:20. > :47:23.didn't say I was. Your party is doing it. I did not say I was. It's
:47:24. > :47:26.talking down to people. It's being rude to people. I'm very sorry but
:47:27. > :47:29.that's not... Jake, I'm the candidate for Gloucester. All I
:47:30. > :47:33.control is the campaign for Gloucester. That is what I am doing.
:47:34. > :47:36.You look at my literature ` unlike the candidate, the UKIP candidate,
:47:37. > :47:39.recently selected, who got negative about me straightaway, I'm not doing
:47:40. > :47:42.that. David Miliband was doing exactly the same thing the other
:47:43. > :47:46.day, saying that we were... I don't control David Miliband, you will be
:47:47. > :47:49.amazed to hear. Do we mean Ed? I've been called a racist, I've been
:47:50. > :47:57.called homophobic, I've been called sexist. I'm none of these things. I
:47:58. > :48:01.had to ring up a gay friend the other day and said, "I just want to
:48:02. > :48:04.check ` am I homophobic?" He said, "not in 20 years". So actually,
:48:05. > :48:10.negative campaigning is what we get. On the street, we don't get that.
:48:11. > :48:13.OK. Now, we've asked all the parties running in the European elections to
:48:14. > :48:16.pitch for your vote. Last week we heard from four. Here are the
:48:17. > :48:19.remaining four in no particular order.
:48:20. > :48:22.The Conservatives have a good record on Europe. We've cut the EU budget
:48:23. > :48:26.for the first time ever. David Cameron vetoed a treaty that wasn't
:48:27. > :48:34.our interests and we're now out of the EU bailout fund. Now we want to
:48:35. > :48:38.reform Europe for good. We want to take powers back from Brussels to
:48:39. > :48:43.Britain. We want to renegotiate the terms of our membership. When the
:48:44. > :48:47.deal is done, we're going to put that to the British people so you
:48:48. > :48:50.can decide whether we stay or leave in a referendum.
:48:51. > :48:56.Well, of course, the real debate in this election is about whether we
:48:57. > :49:01.are in the European Union or out. My party, the Liberal Democrats, is the
:49:02. > :49:05.party of in. In because being in Europe means being in work. Having
:49:06. > :49:12.all of the foreign investment that sustains so many jobs in export
:49:13. > :49:16.industries. Some 365,000 here in the South West. Being in Europe because
:49:17. > :49:20.being in means our police forces and our judiciary is working together to
:49:21. > :49:21.tackle international crime and being in Europe to fight climate change,
:49:22. > :49:34.together with other countries. We should like to stop mass
:49:35. > :49:36.immigration. We want to turn off the immigration tap, reverse the
:49:37. > :49:44.multicultural societies, withdraw from the EU. Reintroduce Christian
:49:45. > :49:54.values into this country. Deport illegal immigrant is an bogus asylum
:49:55. > :49:59.seekers. `` illegal image and tos and Bochum asylum seekers. ``
:50:00. > :50:02.illegal immigrants. And finally, and perhaps also very important, we want
:50:03. > :50:06.to support UK manufacturing. Once we were the workshop of the world. We
:50:07. > :50:10.want to be so again and we think we could if we favoured our own in this
:50:11. > :50:13.country. The English Democrats are the only party representing England
:50:14. > :50:16.and the English. The huge debts incurred prior to 2008 by a small
:50:17. > :50:21.group of Scottish bankers based in Edinburgh are being paid for by the
:50:22. > :50:25.English. We want equal treatment for the people of England, no less than
:50:26. > :50:28.for those in Scotland and Wales. Voters in England cannot rely upon
:50:29. > :50:33.the other parties to put their interests first. They seem
:50:34. > :50:35.preoccupied with minorities. The English Democrats are the only party
:50:36. > :50:46.to guarantee to put England first. That was the final four. We did the
:50:47. > :50:50.previous four last week, so everyone is covered fair and square, and you
:50:51. > :51:04.can find a full list of all the candidates on the BBC website. Now
:51:05. > :51:06.here's a brief recap of the political week in 60 seconds.
:51:07. > :51:09.On Thursday, the Prime Minister ventured west on his campaign trail.
:51:10. > :51:12.David Cameron rallied Conservative activists in Chippenham, Waterman to
:51:13. > :51:16.read and Bristol and urged disaffected Tories to come back from
:51:17. > :51:19.UKIP. Hi there, good to see you. Thanks for coming out in the rain.
:51:20. > :51:22.His government defended its contract to build a new nuclear power
:51:23. > :51:32.station, Hinkley Point, despite claims it could be null and void. A
:51:33. > :51:36.group of law and economic so experts have warned the deal may have been
:51:37. > :51:39.too generous to the firm EDF Energy. West Country producers of cheddar
:51:40. > :51:41.are feeling cheesed off. China has banned the cheese after its food
:51:42. > :51:48.inspectors complained about hygiene standards at a British dairy. The
:51:49. > :51:53.farming minister called for the restrictions to be lifted as soon as
:51:54. > :51:56.possible. There was a final twist in the tale of Bristol's disputed
:51:57. > :52:04.Banksy. The city's mayor had recaptured the work from the local
:52:05. > :52:07.boys' club but the artist confirmed that the club was the rightful
:52:08. > :52:10.owner. Let's go back to the story about
:52:11. > :52:15.cheese and the Chinese banning cheddar. If we were out of the EU,
:52:16. > :52:21.wouldn't we be very vulnerable to countries doing things by that? No
:52:22. > :52:24.because it's an issue for the World Trade Organisation. One of the
:52:25. > :52:30.issues about the EU is that the EU is negotiating a trade deal which
:52:31. > :52:32.means we are going to be flooded. It wouldn't be a problem. The
:52:33. > :52:35.collective action that Europe can have together, and the trade
:52:36. > :52:40.agreement we have, is really important. I would say also, I know
:52:41. > :52:46.it's about cheese but it is about the use of soft power in China and,
:52:47. > :52:50.again, you can see where Putin is heading if you read what he's been
:52:51. > :52:55.saying recently. I think that collective action with Europe is
:52:56. > :52:59.really important closer to home. That's all we've got time for this
:53:00. > :53:03.week. It would be nice to go on. But thanks to Sophie and Jake for coming
:53:04. > :53:18.in. If you want to see this part of the show again ` and
:53:19. > :53:26.Welcome back, let's go straight to our panel. What did you make of Mr
:53:27. > :53:29.Alexander's defence of the Labour party election broadcast? It is
:53:30. > :53:33.difficult for them because they started by saying they were not
:53:34. > :53:39.going to do negative campaigning and they have thrown that away for an
:53:40. > :53:46.advert which is funny but crude in the class war sense. He didn't look
:53:47. > :53:52.thrilled to be defending it. There is a page in Tony Blair's memoirs
:53:53. > :53:55.talking about negative campaigning, and he says that anything too
:53:56. > :54:07.extreme turns off the average voter so his line of attack on Hague was
:54:08. > :54:12.funny jokes but... I think this failed the Blair test, it was too
:54:13. > :54:19.vicious. If your strategy is to shore up your car vote, that advert
:54:20. > :54:25.was genius. If your strategy is to reach out to a broader number of
:54:26. > :54:29.voters, Middle Britain, then that advert was a complete disaster. It
:54:30. > :54:34.looks like there is a lot of negativity and smears all round in
:54:35. > :54:52.the next year. That definitely looks the way we are going. They will be
:54:53. > :55:04.essentially trying to re-run by -- the American election. I am slightly
:55:05. > :55:09.puzzled why we cannot have our own election gurus who live here and
:55:10. > :55:15.understand the country. I should point out that the ?450 extra VAT
:55:16. > :55:21.that was claimed in that Labour poster, both Ed Balls and the Labour
:55:22. > :55:27.Treasury team have said that is ?450 per year. Nonsense the VAT rise, one
:55:28. > :55:32.year. I should also point out that Nigel Farage said to Norman Smith,
:55:33. > :55:38.the BBC is always reliable Norman Smith that if you run in Newark and
:55:39. > :55:43.lost the bubble would burst. I should also point out that although
:55:44. > :55:48.a number of the tax rises I mentioned on council tax, minimum
:55:49. > :55:53.wage tax and some other things that UKIP wants to cuts, a couple of
:55:54. > :55:59.these are in the local manifesto but several are not. They are on the
:56:00. > :56:06.UKIP website, which is still current and dated 2014. We like to make sure
:56:07. > :56:12.we are absolutely right. Let's talk about Nick Clegg and Michael Gove
:56:13. > :56:19.and the latest spat. Let me show you this headline in the Observer this
:56:20. > :56:31.morning. From both the Independent, he called him a zealot, lunatic is
:56:32. > :56:36.of -- another word. Do we take this seriously? It hinges on this
:56:37. > :56:41.question of what counts as an area of need in education. The Lib Dems
:56:42. > :56:45.say an area of need is one where there are not enough school places
:56:46. > :56:50.to meet local demand. He says it can also be a place where there are
:56:51. > :57:01.surplus places but that is for a reason. Local places don't trust
:57:02. > :57:07.those schools to do a good job for their kids. It surprises me because
:57:08. > :57:11.there isn't a yawning distance between David Laws and Michael Gove.
:57:12. > :57:16.David Laws has found himself between a rock and a hard place because I
:57:17. > :57:20.asked -- as I understand it most Lib Dems don't like the free schools but
:57:21. > :57:28.Mr laws was quite sympathetic to it and he is now having to this respect
:57:29. > :57:31.it. When they asked people who are the most hated politicians in a poll
:57:32. > :57:47.were this week, Michael Gove is off the charts, far above David Cameron
:57:48. > :57:50.or George Osborne. This is tit-for-tat war. The Liberal
:57:51. > :57:54.Democrats believe Michael Gove had a hand in leaking the document that
:57:55. > :57:58.showed Nick Clegg was opposing the tougher Chris Grayling position on
:57:59. > :58:03.knife crime. They are saying there were Cabinet ministers who never
:58:04. > :58:08.usually attend the sub Cabinet meeting, they turned up and the
:58:09. > :58:12.document is leaked so what we are getting is tit for tat on that. It
:58:13. > :58:17.is inevitable but it is not good for either side of the Coalition. Voters
:58:18. > :58:23.will look at it and say it is politics of the playground. I read
:58:24. > :58:33.in the Mail on Sunday this morning that some Tory insiders are accusing
:58:34. > :58:38.Lib Dems of spreading rumours about the camera in marriage. The
:58:39. > :58:51.rebuttals of education story is that the free school meals is sucking
:58:52. > :58:57.money away. I always thought they would work together without fuss and
:58:58. > :59:02.yet it has been more the source of disagreement then I would have
:59:03. > :59:07.expected a couple of years ago. Is it serious? It is serious obviously,
:59:08. > :59:12.using that language, but is it fatal for the Coalition? I think it is a
:59:13. > :59:17.road bump because I don't think anybody wants to dissolve the
:59:18. > :59:21.Coalition. It is a challenge for Labour because where do they stand
:59:22. > :59:25.on the free schools? They invented the Academy programme so it is
:59:26. > :59:28.difficult for them to take a hands-off approach at this stage.
:59:29. > :59:32.There was a danger for Michael Gove that he looks ideological but the
:59:33. > :59:35.danger for the Liberal Democrats is that they are breaking the rules for
:59:36. > :59:39.the Coalition they said that they wouldn't break which is that they
:59:40. > :59:47.looked like opposition in government. Is Michael Gove's
:59:48. > :59:55.position safe? Very safe. If he moves in a reshuffle that will be to
:59:56. > :59:58.a a job. That's all for today. The Daily Politics will be back on BBC
:59:59. > :00:01.Two at lunchtime from Tuesday onwards. I'll be back here on BBC
:00:02. > :00:02.One at 11am next week. Remember if it's Sunday, it's the Sunday
:00:03. > :00:51.Politics. What if the person
:00:52. > :00:52.that killed her... I found out she'd been taking drugs.
:00:53. > :00:56.Just let me explain. You wasn't at that party all night.
:00:57. > :00:59.Yeah, I was. What was she even doing there?
:01:00. > :01:02.Oi, you keep your mouth shut. She was exchanging a significant
:01:03. > :01:04.number of texts and calls with someone in the weeks
:01:05. > :01:07.leading up to her death. It's like we didn't
:01:08. > :01:10.really know her at all.